Fallout: Men of the Star
by Dark Corsair
Summary: This is the tale of Operation: Sly Fox. The NCR's Ranger Company: Night Stalkers, task of conducting deep reconnaissance into Caesar's territory in order to provide intel for the future op of a massive military invasion.
1. Description

It's been about 5 years since the New California Republic's victory at Hoover Dam against Caesar's Legion, and about 3 years since they were able to push the Bull's forces past the irradiated ruins of Camp Searchlight. After the NCR had felt like they had a good hold of the New Vegas area, the government changed it's policy from expanding it's borders to focusing on their domestic issues, and the military had changed it's tactics from being conquers to bolstering their ranks. These changes in strategy were all thanks to the harsh lessons that were given to them during their war against Caesar's Legion; their numbers were thin, their troops lacked the discipline that a professional army demanded, and their enemy was not shy in exploiting their weaknesses. But time has passed, and their leaders had licked their wounds, and as of result the NCR has begun to experience prosperity and their resources were no longer stretched thin; making them more than ready for round two in their fight against the legion. To which they call into service of a Ranger Company to scout a potential target at the edge of their borders, and if possible to recover whatever old world tech could be found, and used by the NCR. These men haven't been active since the Battle for the Hoover Dam, since then their primary objective was to help maintain law and order, so when the unit had received word of their new mission they were more than excited to do their job and fight the legion once more.


	2. Chapter 1: Night Stalkers Company

Company Commander

Captain Ramirez

 **Memos**

March 18, 2286

Ever since the NCR was able to secure the Hoover Dam from Caesar's Legion, 2nd Battalion had my company, Night Stalkers, reassigned to Camp McCarran to help enforce the law onto Vegas and eradicate the gangs that plagued the local populace. The citizens were surprisingly cooperative to the rules that the NCR had in place, but many including I, speculated that they were only cooperating out of fear from our presence. If these assumptions were to be true, then I don't really blame them on how they feel about us since we've pretty much demonstrated that we aren't something to be taken lightly. Either way I appreciate the lack of resistance that they show and we could all get use to this ease. I wish I could say the same about the gangs we've had to constantly deal with. Although none of these hooligans are an actual threat to us, their frequent drug-filled assaults has been a big thorn to our sides for awhile now, and it feels like they're just getting bolder with every attack. No matter on how many of them we kill, these psychos just keeps coming back. We know on where they're hideout is so I've sent out a request to Colonel Hsu to either, give me permission to mobilize 1st Platoon or to send a platoon of NCR regulars to deal with them. I don't mean to berate our boys, but being realistic, we Rangers are better suited for this kind of mission, and I'm more than sure that the colonel thinks of the situation the same way and will let us go.

March 19, 2286

Mission accomplished. My hopes were fulfilled, and I was given the proper authority to release 1st Platoon and do on what they were trained to do. Eight hours after being deployed from Camp McCarran, the platoon solved a problem that has plagued Vegas for years in the matter of one afternoon. The report that the platoon leader gave me was very enlightening as they took no casualties but eliminated anyone who engaged them during this sortie, and they ensured that if anybody did survived then they wouldn't be able to use their old hideout as a staging area anymore. It's been far too long since my unit actually conducted a military operation, it's good thing they haven't lost their edge on bit.

 **End of Memos**

Camp McCarran, Vegas

March 22, 2286

0700

After waking up from another dreamless night, and getting myself ready for the day, a knock on my door grabs my attention and I walk to it. As I open the door it turns out that one of the soldiers stationed here was the one who had been knocking. He had been frantically looking for me all morning; his face had sweat running down the middle, and his breath, very heavy and frequent. When he finally found me, he said that the colonel wanted to see me, I was surprised from this request as he never called for my presence this early in the morning, and based on the look of that soldier, this urgent. I didn't wait a second longer, and I quickly made my way to his office. While on my way there a hundred things were going through my mind; are we mobilizing, are we under attack, was one of my men arrested for going on a drunken rampage on the strip again? I'm not certain of what to expect once I get there, but I try to prepare for the worse. I arrive at the colonel's door, and knock on it to tell him that I'm here, he allows me in and I happily oblige.

"Good morning, Captain Ramirez and thank you for meeting me in such early notice" Colonel Hsu says to me.

"I just received word from the soldier you sent. Is there something the matter sir?" I asks.

"Captain, what I'm about to tell you is of utmost secrecy. So you are to not let any of what I say, leave this room." I nod to the colonel to show my compliance and he does the same, "Ramirez we're preparing for war, and I picked your company to be the lucky few to help setup the playing field."

"Sir, do you mean, we're being deployed?"

"Yes. Your unit, 2nd Battalion, Night Stalkers Company, is to be used to recon a possible target location and also recover pre-war technologies that may still be dormant inside. The target is just south-east of Bullhead City, and was known in the pre-war times as Phoenix. Your rules of engagement, and the way you will conduct this mission are at your discretion captain, but being stealthy shall be your priority am I understood?"

"Yes sir, when shall I brief the men about this?"

"Immediately right after I finish talking with you, also-" he goes into his desk and takes out a folder. "This contains more details about the mission, so if you need more info just look into this, supply is also expecting to see you, they have the necessary gear to help out for this mission. You're now free to go captain, and god-speed."

"Roger that, sir!" I give Colonel Hsu a salute, to which he returns the gesture with his own, then grab the folder, and made my way to supply.

This whole situation couldn't get any better for the company, first we were allotted the freedom to eliminate a gang, and now we are given the privilege to do reconnaissance for the NCR military. The company, save for 1st Platoon, hasn't seen action since the second battle for the Hoover Dam, so I can only imagine the excitement they will feel when I deliver them the good news. I arrive at supply a few minutes after leaving the colonel's office and as Hsu told me earlier, they were waiting for me. The Quarter Master, Sergeant Contreras, spotted me entering the room and approaches me with a tired look on his face, but regardless of this he stiffens up and gives me a salute and I return it with my own.

"Morning sir, the two crates to the left are filled with our new night-vision optics along with the suppressors for your marksman carbines, and the crate to the right of that is the 12,000 rounds of 5.56 x 45mm ammunition. The three soldiers there are to help you bring these to wherever you need them, so after you sign the papers, everything here will be yours."

The sergeant hands me a clipboard that had three pages of paper clamped onto it, and after putting my signature down on the dotted lines he took the clipboard back and had the three men load the crates onto dollies and follow me. I then led them to my company's tent which was located right outside the airport terminal. But as we trek towards the tents I had noticed that the troops stationed here were looking my way, and began to suspect that I was raising some eyebrows; hopefully for their sake, they are just curious about the crates and nothing more. It didn't takes us long to finally get out of the terminal, and quickly into the tent, once inside the only people who were present were the platoon commanders. One of them, 1st Lieutenant Dean, saw me coming in and yells out for the room to attention, to which I quickly told them to resume their duties, "alright men listen up! I want you to round up all of your boys and bring them here, now!" The officers quickly set off to gather their men, and the tent was now only occupied by me and the three fellow soldiers, to which I ordered them to return to their stations as I had no more use for them. As I awaited for the men to return, I decided to open up the folder and get myself better situated with the materials found inside. The information contained in the papers were pretty much a more detailed explanation of what the colonel has told me, some spanning two pages long, but other than that only one thing that seemed out of the ordinary; which was the recovery of pre-war tech. The Rangers were originally created for reconnaissance, so when recovery was added to the objectives, I admittedly was stumped for a second on how I was going to do this. The papers explains that during the pre-war times the city of Phoenix housed a company within it's limits, West Tek. I don't personally know much about it, and judging by this paper neither does the top brass of the NCR, the only description I got about them was that they specialized in the research and development of weaponry. The officers that had ran off earlier finally returns and in the knick of time, as I just finished reading the documents. As soon as everyone was inside, and accounted for, I closed all of the flaps of the tent's entrances to make sure that no one could see on what was going on from the outside, then positioned myself in front of the men. The tent was pretty big but having everyone from the company present, made it seem smaller than it actually was.

"Good morning gents, I hope everyone here is enjoying their beautiful morning in Vegas," the men responds with a brief chuckle, "because as of right now, we're active again." The men who still had a smile on their face from the chuckle, switched to a seldom look, and not a word was being uttered. "As written here, by President Kimball. The NCR military is to make the proper arrangements for an expedition into Caesar's territory, dubbed Operation: Grizzly, with the intent of dividing the land into two, then dealing with the stragglers after a well established line is in place." I place the paper back inside the folder then look back at the men, "what I read to you, was an excerpt of his speech that our war-hero president is suppose to give in eight days. But before that, our mission, Operation: Sly Fox, is to recon the first target location that this invasion is supposed to take place in, label all of the possible weaknesses, and if possible recover all if any pre-war tech we come across. As for the target we're hitting, it's called Phoenix, and is about 181 miles south-east of Bullhead City. The city is deep into legion territory so for us to accomplish this mission stealth will be of utmost priority. Which is why we're also being issued with new toys," I walked over to the crate full with night vision optics and suppressors. "These should make our insertion as well as our exfil, much easier on us but to play it safe. The rules of engagements are to not shoot unless necessary. Now with that out of the way, 3rd Platoon, you are to stay here and act as both our quick reaction force and exfil. The Air Force was kind enough to lend us some of their Vertibirds and pilots for this op, so if our radioman signals that something is up, or that we're ready to be extracted than it's your responsibility to see that it happens. 1st and 2nd, both of you shall be heading out with me, so kudos to both of you. We step out tomorrow at 0300, with the staging area being the entrance of this camp, so you have the rest of the day to make preparations till then. That's all I have to say, you're dismissed!" The men quickly vacate the area and I am once again left alone in the tent, until an individual who was wearing a lab coat, I assume OSI, approaches me. Normally the Office of Science and Industry personnel doesn't usually bother me for anything, so for one of them to approach me now certainly peaked my curiosity, but when I get a better look on who it was, my curiousness was quickly gone.

"Well aren't things very lively today?" The OSI scientist asked.

"Heh, should I assume you're here just to say hello, or do you have official business to deal with me, Dianne?" I say with a hint of sarcasm in my question.

"You can consider this a 'Doctor's visit,' Daniel." Dianne also responds with a hint of sarcasm and matched it with a grin on her face. She is a very close friend of mine, and we've known each other since we were kids. She was always kind, smart, helpful, and before she had joined the OSI, she was a member of the Followers of the Apocalypse. But when I heard she left them it behooved me. The followers purpose seems to align better with her personality, and the OSI was always more bureaucratic, but when I asked her on why, she would just say, "she was feeling patriotic."

"Your pun was as funny as you landing your career in the OSI."

"Hmm, I wonder on what kind of mutated creature burrowed up your ass today?" Both of us begin to laugh, as we had gotten used to greeting each other in this fashion.

"So the NCR finally gave you the 'Doctor' title, eh?"

"Yup, I had just received the commissioning letter in my mail, this morning. And as of now I am officially, Dr. Dianne H. Holland."

"Congratulations Dianne, I'm real proud of you." I say with a more sincere, and grateful tone.

"Thanks, so why don't we both celebrate by heading to the strip and getting some drinks?"

"I don't think I'll be able to do that..."

"Why not? Are you saying that you're too lame to hang out with me now, cause I have a doctorate?" She says jokingly.

"I'd be careful of waving around that doctor's flag of yours. You know on what they say, pride comes before the fall. But in all seriousness though, my unit has been given a task by command, and we are to step off early in the morning. So I don't think partying excessively will be such a good idea."

"Oh, I didn't know you were being called out this suddenly. Can you say on what's the task?"

"I'm sorry but I can't."

"Hmm, tell you what. Why don't you just meet me in my office later in the afternoon, I say 1700, and we'll have a small celebration?"

"You have an office?"

"I do now."

"Well so long as it's here. Sure why not?"

"Great, I'll see you then!" She smiles then waves good-bye to me, before walking out of the tent. And again, I am left alone inside.

1st Platoon Commander

1st Lieutenant Dean

Camp McCarran, Vegas

March 22, 2286

0500

Everything around me is black and silent. I am confused on what is going on, but at the same time I feel very relaxed, and calm. But then, off in the distance I hear two voices, both of them male. I ignore them both and continue to enjoy my relaxed state, then the voices began to get louder. I try to ignore the voices again but their volume continues to rise, then my body began to shake, and I only become more confused on what was going on. The darkness around me then quickly dissipates, as bright lights began to take it's place. My eyes take a second to get adjusted to this, but when they do, everything began to make sense again. I'm lying down on my bunk, in the officers tent, and the two voices I heard was my Platoon Sergeant, Staff Sergeant Rhys, and the 2nd Platoon Commander, 1st Lieutenant Jhin. Rhys had been trying to wake me up the whole time but had accidentally awoken the other lieutenant as well, and was being yelled to "shut the hell up!" I hear him apologize to the officer and it was at this time I turned to face Rhys, to let him know that I was up.

"Is there something you need, Rhys?" I ask while feeling groggy.

"I'm just here to wake you up sir. You had asked me to fetch you, if you didn't wake up by 0445, and a good 15 minutes has already passed."

"Good job in following orders, staff sergeant!" Jhin says to the staff sergeant with a very irritated voice. But Rhys doesn't acknowledge it and continues to face towards his officer.

"Are the men already up?" Dean asks Rhys.

"Yes sir, they've been up for at least an hour and a half already, and have been doing some early morning physical training."

I fight against the fatigued feeling you get upon waking up, and I get myself to get up from my bunk and change into my fatigues. "What kind of training regimen is the platoon doing, staff sergeant?"

"Nothing too intense sir, a basic 2 mile run, followed up with an ammo-can run, push ups, crunches, and finishing it up with close quarters combat sparring."

"And where are they in the schedule?"

"They're in the middle of sparring, sir."

"Well then I guess we better hurry before they all become too tired to spar with their platoon commander." The staff sergeant agrees with my suggestion and we quickly head down to the airport's front gate area, where we usually do our physical training. "Rhys, with the men sparring each other, how's Henderson doing since the sortie?"

"He's fine sir. His right ankle fully recovered yesterday, and so he's back to his usual self."

"Well that's good to hear. We need the men ready to go at a moment's notice, just in case the captain gives us another mission like the one a couple days ago."

"Sir, with all do respect. We are rangers, the toughest of the tough, and the best that the NCR military has to offer towards their enemies. One ranger is worth about five of the army's regulars, so I'm pretty sure an injured ranger is at least worth half of that." Rhys says with full confidence.

I smile from the staff sergeant's prideful claim, "you know pride comes before the fall, Rhys?"

"Well then I'll just make sure to not let us fall, sir." I always enjoyed having Rhys around me, he was a man that I can depend on during my time of need, and he also knew on how to keep the men in line. Rhys is also more than capable of sharing his own thoughts on a plan, while at the same time not disrespecting the person who came up with the idea in the first place.

Time seemed to have moved pretty quickly while talking to Rhys, as I didn't notice that we had arrived at the area where the men were training at. The location was the patch of dirt that lied at the center of the fork on the road, right behind the front entrance of the camp. Their little sparring session built up a small crowd, as some of the regulars who patrol the base are also watching on how my rangers conduct CQC. The two men who are currently fighting in the arena are 1st platoon's best when it comes to hand to hand fighting: Sergeant Richards, a three year veteran of this unit, and Private First Class Shao, a new join who's been around for at least a month. Although Richards is well known to be a tough one to beat, the newbie seems to be keeping him on his toes by doing quick and precise jabs that follows each other successively. The sergeant, for the most part, was able to keep up with the kid's punches but unfortunately for him, Shao's speed gave him the edge he needed to go around his defenses and finish the fight by knocking him to the ground. The crowd was impressed from Shao's performance, and I too feel the same way. The fighting style he implicated was a mixture of the NCR's Ranger CQC technique and some other style I'm not too familiar with, but if I were to guess it's probably something that the folks of Shi created. Based on what Shao told us, he was originally born and raised by the Shi, but on why he left and winded up here, we know nothing about. Personally I couldn't give a shit if he told us or not, what I care about is that he's able to follow orders and not be stupid. Sergeant Richards gets himself back up and as a show of sportsmanship he congratulates Shao with a handshake, the men that was watching the spectacle then looked around to see on who would be the next to fight him, and that was when I thought it was a good opportunity to get involved with the men and stepped forward towards the arena. Shao is surprised from me stepping forward but he forms a smile on his face to show that he's ready.

"Good morning sir, will you be my next partner?" Shao ask's me.

"Yes I am. Now I hope you understand that I don't want you going easy on me."

"Of course sir, I will only show you my best!"

We both get into a defensive stance and awaits to see on who'll strike first, based on what I saw from his previous fight he likes to beat his opponent as quickly as he can. A good strategy if you're able land your hits. Shao breaks the stalemate and he charges forward to close in the distance and once close enough he gives me a burst of quick jabs. I block all of the punches thrown at me before he goes in again, and like last time I block them all as well. While I was on the defense I noticed that the both times he let out his jabs, there was a one, two, three pattern. I take note of this revelation, and the third time Shao gives me his jabs again I intercept his first punch by stepping forward and left with my left foot, while at the same time grabbing his right wrist with my right hand. Once I have a firm grip on his wrist, I then quickly move to get behind him while still holding on, then once in position I wrap my other arm around his neck while at the same time pressing his right arm upon his back. I waste not a single moment, and I follow up my move by getting my legs in a good stance to keep myself anchored to the ground, then twisting my body to the left while lifting him up at the same time so I can flip him over me. Once he's over me and is heading back down I follow through with my move, and I end up on top of him. Through the whole move I do not let go of my hold on both of his arms, and now that I'm on top of him my own body weight is now working against him, but he doesn't give in and he struggles to try and get me off of him. I expect no less of his iron determination and I am happy to see him refusing to yield, but I have to end this quickly. I firmly plant my knees to the ground then squeezes them on his torso to deny him the ability to breathe, and to speed things up I also tighten my hold on his neck. He responds to this very well using his only free arm to try and loosen my hold, but in the end, his face began to change color and his strength was only waning with every movement, and so he taps out. I let go and got away from him so he can breathe, and thankfully it doesn't looked like I broke the young Ranger.

"You're pretty good, Shao." I say while trying to get my heart back to it's resting rate. "I noticed that you used other fundamentals with our Ranger CQC, in order to support your strategy of attacking quickly. But there was one flaw, you remained consistent. There was a pattern with your jabs and it didn't take me long to realize it, and come up with a counter. You may have had more moves planned for me, but none of them matters when I'm able to stop you at any point. If you're able to make your attacks more enigmatic, then your strategy has a higher chance of working, just remember being unpredictable is the key to success." I then face the rest of my men that surrounds us. "Just like us rangers. We specialize in clandestine operations, and thanks to that we can be inside the enemy's very own home and they'll never even know, that my brothers scares them the most!" The men gets motivated from my message and they respond back with a confident yell of, "KILL!" I'm in turn motivated as well and I was ready for another round with the others, but before the fun could begin the 2nd Platoon Commander, 1st Lieutenant Jhin, shows up and halts the fight.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your session Dean, but we need you back at the Officer's Tent!" Jhin says to me.

"Oh, well then. I'll spar you gents later, Staff Sergeant Rhys, you have the floor!" The staff sergeant then takes control of the men while I walk away with Jhin.


	3. Chapter 2: D-Day

Company Commander

Captain Ramirez

Camp McCarran, Vegas

March 22, 2286

1650

I had just finished getting my gear prepared for the op tomorrow morning before looking at my watch and seeing that I had about 10 minutes before Dianne was expecting me, and since I was all ready to go, I went straight to her. She didn't really tell me where her new office was so I made my way towards the section of the airport, where the OSI personnel were usually found, and hoped that one of them could help me. When I arrived, I was greeted by a woman who was standing by the door and is part of the OSI. I kindly return her greeting, then asked for directions to Dianne's office, and lucky for me, the woman pointed out that it was directly above from where we stood. After thanking the woman for her assistance I make my way up to Dianne's and when I arrive in front of the room's entrance, she was already pouring two glasses of wine for the both of us. She'd stopped midway in pouring the second glass upon seeing me.

"Hello there, and right on time" Dianne says with a grateful tone.

"Well I did give you my word that I would come and see you."

I entered her office and closed the door behind me, before taking a seat that was in front of her desk. By the time I was seated down she had finished filling my glass, and given it to me.

"A toast to you achieving the title of Doctor!" I say before toasting her glass then taking a small sip.

"It was a long, and tedious journey but I finally did it," she takes a sip of her glass. "Speaking of journeys, how long are you expected to be out for this mission of yours?"

"I can't really give you an exact number on how long we'll be out, but this may be a long range patrol. So I say maybe a week at most?"

"Long range patrol? My, I haven't heard of you and your unit actually getting a mission like that since the time leading up to the Second Battle of the Hoover Dam." Dianne says sarcastically before following it up with a small giggle.

Even though I was fully aware that she was only joking, I couldn't help but feel a sharp pain in my chest as her jab held some truth in it. "Jeez Dianne, it's like you're firing salt onto my wounds."

"Eh, cheer up you old sour puss, you know very well that I was only joking," she giggles before shifting her look to something more serious. "But being real for a second though; a week seems a bit long for a long range patrol. What are you up to Daniel?"

"Just as I wasn't able to give you an exact number of days that I'll be gone; I can't tell you on what me and my men are up to."

"So this is serious? Well I won't dabble in that subject any further then, but please do be careful out there Daniel. We've known each other for many years now and it'd be a real shame if I were to lose you in a moments notice."

"Well the only way the enemy will even get a chance in taking my life is that if they're able to see me, and lucky for you, us rangers specialize in remaining unseen" I don't often gloat about the NCR Rangers capabilities so for me to boast as I did, I ended up letting out a chuckle. "But I can assure you Dianne, I will take whatever precautions I can in order to bring everyone under my command back home. Including me."

She smiles as her response to my assurance then gets up and walks towards the office door, and locks it before walking back to me. "Tell me Daniel, how long till you are needed back with your men?"

"About ten hours from now."

"Good," she then sits on my lap and looks down to me with a very strong lustful gaze.

"Dianne, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like to you? Are you just that dense or... am I making a mistake?"

"It's just that out of the so many years we've known each other, you never gave me the slightest hint of interest to me. So what's different?"

She starts to laugh "Daniel you must be as dense as I thought. But to save both of us time, I'll tell you that I've had feelings for you for a very long time but whenever I was with you when we were younger, there always seemed to be someone else on your mind. Because of that I felt like that no matter on what I'd do, none of it will it ever matter. Then when the war with the Legion kicked off and you and I were separated once again, I just felt nothing but worry as I was afraid that I was going to lose you without even saying good-bye. And now here we are again, you are about to be sent off for a dangerous mission that I have no idea about, and have no idea if your safe return will be ensured. So before I have to go through that same ordeal once again, I'm going to seize the moment and do something that I've dreamed of doing for years now. Will you help me achieve this?"

"Dianne I've had no-" she puts a finger on my lips.

"Shh, time is short Daniel, just give me a nod if you agree." I gave her a nod as my response to her request and she leans forward to kiss me on my lips, but half way through I show her my eagerness as well and moved in to close the distance.

March 23, 2286

0100

After spending quality time with Dianne for about six hours, I had to force myself to call it to an end because the time for departure was coming close. She had objected to me leaving strongly and hadn't I promised to return to her safely, there's a good chance I could've just been trapped in that room for the rest of my life. Funny thing about that thought is that I actually like the idea, minus the whole trapped part. I had always thought of her as more than a friend since we were in our teens but I was so afraid of ruining the great friendship we had that I didn't want to try anything, and thanks to my hesitance she got fed up and made the first move instead. Her taking the initiative did hurt my pride a bit as a man, but considering on what I got in return I'm willing to swallow it up. I walked back to my office and sorted my gear out for the upcoming mission then reviewed the briefing over and over again until I was able to recite it in my sleep. When the two hour mark on my watch hit however, I put on my patrol armor, grabbed my ranger hat, then walked to the rendezvous point which was in one of the terminals. The walk to the area was quite surreal as I got my mindset in the game; the very fact that my unit is finally going to see some action is one thing but to be the tip of the spear of an invasion, well that's a reality that hasn't embedded itself within me yet. When I arrive at the entrance of the terminal a man in a NCR pilot's jumpsuit that was decorated with patches which signified what unit he belonged to, approaches me.

"Excuse me ranger, but you wouldn't happen to be Captain Ramirez?"

"Why yes I am, and who might you be?"

The pilot extends his hand for a shake to which I complied, "the name's Mackleson. Major Mackleson, NCR Air Force, 2nd Squadron, 1st Flight. I'm in charge of the flight that's responsible for transporting your men to your destination. We have five vertibirds to work with: two troop transports, two gunships, and one medical."

The man seemed very clean for someone who was in the NCR military, if anything he looked as if he had never been outside before. Through out my career I've been through many outposts and stations, and every single one of its personnel looked like they at least sweated for an hour and had stained their uniform with dirt. But when I look at this man, I can't help but wonder on how he was so clean? "Well you guys are certainly coming in prepared. I don't remember any of this stuff being available during the battles of Hoover Dam, where were they then?"

"They were still being kitted. These birds would've been out there helping you guys fight the good fight, but unfortunately the war demanded so much resources that the assembly of the gunship and medical variants had to be put on hold as materials were re-directed to the frontlines. Anyways I just thought I'd introduce myself to the man in charge of this op before we take flight, which is by the way within the next hour and a half. So if you got anything that needs to get squared away, I'd do it now." The major gave me a smile before walking off to his crew, to get the birds ready. I never really got chances to talk to pilots in the past so with him being my first impression, I wondered if others were like him?

By the time I arrived at the rendezvous point the men had their armor on already and were just doing last minute checks with their equipment. The 3rd Platoon Commander, 1st Lieutenant Fritz, saw me coming in and approaches me.

"Good morning sir, please excuse me but I think you'll need this helmet more than that hat." The helmet that Fritz had in his hands was khaki colored, with a plate that was at the front of it and looked like something was to be mounted on. This certainly didn't look the same kind of gear that neither the veterans or regulars wore and if anything resembled more of the old US Army's gear.

"Woah, when did we get something as fancy as this?" I happily take the helmet off his hands.

"You like it? They're supposed to help us by allowing the night vision goggles to be mounted on that black plate in the front, and the best part is that we're the only unit to have them right now."

"How is that the best part?"

"Well considering the other crap we owned, this makes me feel special enough to be happy."

"Whatever floats your boat Fritz, anyways I'm gonna talk to the men before we leave, so I'll see you around." I made my way to where everyone can see me and asked for their attention for a moment; they all responded kindly and their eyes were now focused onto me. "Today is the day we've waited for gentlemen! Our time of maintaining law and order on the Vegas strip is finally over; it is now time to do on what we rangers do best! Now I shouldn't have to tell you on what to expect on this op, we've all done this before. But I will gladly remind every one of you that we are not only a unit but a family as well, and as family we shall both leave and come back home together. Now if you think you've got the balls for this, follow my lead and let's kill these legion fucks!" My excitement and yelling from the speech motivated the men enough to all let out a loud and synchronized "YEAH!" I haven't seen everyone this exhilarated for some action, since the waking moments of the second battle for the dam. The company was stationed in the dam around that time and being on the front-line for so long had caused a great sense of uneasiness among the men. We all knew that the legion will one day make their move, and we all prayed that we were at the ready when they did. After the men gave their response, they all grabbed their weapons and gear and moved out to the runway where the Vertibirds were waiting for us. I had my gear and weapon on me already, so I simply just secured the helmet I had on my hands to my head and made my way to the same area as well. By the time we all had arrived the birds were prepped and ready for lift off, their huge rotors spinning so powerfully that it caused the strong gust of wind around the staging area. These birds we're so incredibly massive that one of them was enough to fit a full thirty-man platoon. Just as I've never got to work with pilots before until now, I've never seen a Vertibird this close before neither; it definitely sent a sense of pride as I saw the NCR emblem on the side of the body, and awe as I got ready to board the vehicle. But just before I took a step forward Fritz came up to me once again.

"SIR BEFORE YOU GO, I LIKED TO SAY GOOD LUCK!" Due to the loud engine of the Vertibird, Fritz had to scream in order to pass his message along, even then I had a hard time hearing on what he was saying.

"THANKS FRITZ, HOLD DOWN THE FORT WHILE WERE GONE WILL YOU!?" Fritz gave me a nod for a response then ran back inside. I looked at him for a couple more seconds before finally hopping on board the Vertibird. Once inside a crewman closed the hatch behind me and I found a seat to use, close to the exit. It was much quieter once the doors were closed. I was getting myself comfortable for the trip when I hear the engine started to get louder, and the intercom system turns on with a pretty cheerful pilot on the other end of the line.

"Good morning gentlemen, this is Major Mackleson speaking and before we take off I'd like to personally thank all of you for your service and hope that your op goes smoothly. The flight should only take about an hour so please make yourselves comfortable, and enjoy the music. This one being my personal favorite, Rides of the Valkyries." The music began to play over the intercom, and at the same time the aircraft began to move upward. It kind of sucks that I can't see the view of the outside but I could definitely feel everything, from vertical motion as we lift off to the retraction of the landing gears to the inside of the Vertibird. The men were looking onto each other in confusion as none of them had ever experience a ride like this before, and it was at that point that I knew this was certainly going to be one hell of an experience.

0145

The flight has been quite the fun and smooth ride, I was even able to take a nap for a short while before being woken up from the pilot's voice on the intercom.

"We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to inform you, that we're fast approaching our landing zone and highly advice that everyone get ready to exit. Thanks for listening and good luck to you all." The music resumes afterwards. I'm still trying to get use to these pilots as the major's happy demeanor still feels weird to me. Was there something in there rations that caused them to act like this? Either way I'm certain that its contagious as a smile began to form on my face. The ride lasted for another ten minutes before I hear the landing gear coming down, and the bird descending steadily, "alright gents the time is now, get ready for touch down!" The crewman who closed the hatch earlier came back and prepared to open it. The Vertibird's landing gear finally makes contact with the ground,which causes it to bounce a couple of times, and the crewman finally opens the hatch.

I get up from my seat then immediately jump out of the Vertibird to see that we had landed on a level grounded field with dead trees surrounding the western area. The second transport Vertibird landed a couple meters away from where mine was, and up above were the other three hovering around. Once the men were all out of the birds and a perimeter was formed, the pilots took the aircrafts back to the sky and returned to Camp McCarran. I scanned my surroundings and determined that we would be safer under the concealment of the dead foliage, to which I gave hand signals to the platoon leaders to assemble the men at my designated areas. The leaders quickly passed down the orders through their chain of command, and the men quickly moved from their original spots to the new ones. Once we reconnoitered, I got the map out and figured out on where I was based on the terrain features that surrounded us. Meanwhile the platoon leaders made sure that they knew on where everyone was before coming back to me.

"Sir, 1st Platoon is up and ready for orders." Dean says.

"Same goes for 2nd Platoon, sir." Rhys says.

"Excellent, now I have determined that we are here," I point at our position on the map. "An old world trail called Morgan Wash. If we go south we'll run into Route 74 which leads to Interstate 17 and a parkway, both are paths that we'll take to get to Phoenix. While on these roads there are settlements that are listed on these maps that we have no idea on how they are doing as of now. So we're gonna split the routes by platoon and I'm gonna designate you guys areas to scout out, before meeting back up at a designated point." The two men take out their maps and a pen to write with. "Rhys, you'll be taking the parkway. There are two structures, a water treatment facility and an airport along the immediate path. I want you to check those spots out and see on how badly damaged the area is, and if we're lucky we may be able to use them in the future. There's also a community just west of the parkway the further down you go, called Vistancia, check that out as well."

"Roger!" Rhys says.

"Dean you'll be with me, and we're gonna go across 74 and head straight down 17 to Phoenix. While there I want us to check out a settlement a little up north called Anthem, afterwards we'll head south straight to Phoenix, and into a pre-war R&D facility that was owned by an old company called West-Tek; there may be some gear that might be salvageable so we'll see on what we can grab. After that we'll regroup just north of the city limits in the hills. We're going to be separated for awhile so I want you're radio operators constantly checking in so we'll know on where everyone is. Now if things become to dicey, I want you all to head straight to these hills, am I clear?" The two gave a synchronized "yes," and I looked at my watch before looking back at them "alright gents, the time is 0215 we got a couple more hours till the sun rises so let's use them wisely, Night Stalkers move out!" The leaders went back to their team and we all moved out to our areas quickly soon after.


End file.
